Brain Over Brawn
by EvilBoyGenius
Summary: Team Stax must face their most trying test yet: a test in the form of Team Battacor. This story is in no way related to my other story: Malice. Please R&R.
1. Chapter 1: A day in the sun

**The idea for this story came from Brave Kid, so the plot belongs to him. I just did the writing. Neither of us owns Redakai: Conquer the Kairu, for if we did, then you would probably be watching this on television. Now, let's get on with the story, shall we. **

**Chapter 1**

''You wanted to see us master?'' Zylus, the leader of Team Battacor, asked, as he, along with his two teammates: Rynoh and Bash, knelt on one knee, before Lokar. Mostly the room was dark, but the three e-teens and their master, were illuminated by a conical beam of white light, that shone down from the center of the room's high ceiling.

''Indeed,'' Lokar said, his withering gaze taking in the three e-teens, making them tremble with fear. The dark master silently congratulated himself, for how grand was he, to inspire such fear with only a glance. ''I am sensing a massive kairu-deposit of a most unusual nature, somewhere in Crete,'' Lokar said, in an even voice, ''I have chosen the three of you for this quest.''

In spite of his calm exterior, Lokar was boiling with outrage. None of his other e-teen teams were in house, all having been sent on quests of their own, and so the dark master had no choice but to entrust this quest to Zylus, and his idiotic cohorts. Lokar had often wondered whether he actually needed Team Battacor; whether the brutish e-teens were of any value to him at all.

''Go, and do not fail me,'' Lokar said, and then he added, disdain evident in his voice, ''Battacor.'' Zylus, and his two companions, bowed respectfully, then turned on their heel and hurried out of the room.

xxxxx

Ky jumped high into the air, one arm going high, then swatting down, intercepting the incoming volley-ball, sending it back over the net, the shot angled so that Boomer could not possibly intercept. But Boomer did intercept, digging his toes into the yellow sand, and with a twitch of his muscular legs, he propelled himself forward, towards the incoming ball. He fell down on one knee, hands out and clasped together, connecting with the ball, with a sudden up movement of his arms, sending it arching back over the net. Ky, who had thought victory all but assured, did not manage to intercept in time, the ball landing in the sand.

''Good one big guy, you win,'' Ky said, walking over to where the ball lay, picking it up and tucking it under his arm, ''again.'' The young man stroked his angular chin with his free hand, and leaned on one foot. ''How many matches have we played,'' he asked, ''and how many of those matches have you won?''

''We've played seven matches,'' Boomer said, then he smiled a wide and wicked smile, ''and I've won them all. Even the one where you and Maya teamed up on me.'' The stocky man looked to the side, to where Maya, wearing a blue bikini, lay in a beach-chair, bathing in the Hawaiian sun. ''Do you wanna take on the winner, My?'' Boomer asked.

''No thanks, Boom,'' Maya said, ''I'm just gonna relax in the sun.''

''Okay,'' Boomer said, ''you up for another round, Ky?''

Ky nodded, then tossed the ball high up into the air. He jumped, following the ball's ascent, one arm going high overhead, before swatting down, connecting with the ball, and sending it towards the net.

Suddenly, master Boddai's astrally-projected form appeared above the net, the old man's eyes going wide indeed, as he noticed the ball, soaring in for his face, and as abruptly as he had appeared, he was gone. The ball landed in the sand, on Boomer's side of the field, for the stocky man had not even tried to intercept it. The astral-projection reappeared then, but this time to the side, before Maya.

''Hello warriors,'' master Boddai greeted, his astrally-projected form hovering in the air, in front of Maya. ''Hey there master B,'' the young woman greeted in reply, ''what's happening.'' Ky and Boomer walked over to stand beside Maya, and greeted their teacher of kairu.

''Sorry to cut your relaxation short,'' master Boddai began, ''but I have sensed a new kairu-deposit, somewhere in Crete, and I would have you go and retrieve it as soon as possible.''

''We're on it master,'' Ky said.

''One more thing'' master Boddai said, ''you must exercise extreme caution, for I sense something very strange about this kairu-deposit.'' That said, the astral-projection disappeared.

''Looks like relaxing time is over guys,'' Maya exclaimed, as she folded her beach-chair together. Ky and Boomer took down the volley-ball net and retrieved their ball, before running towards the X-caper, which was parked atop a sand-dune, overlooking the vast, dark-blue expanse of the ocean.

A short while later, when they had all changed from their bathing suits, and into their kairu-hunting clothes, the X-caper took off into the air, blowing the loose sand about as it did, and sped away.

**To be continued...**


	2. Chapter 2: A quest in the dark

**Chapter 2**

Team Battacor slowly made its way along an earthen, rock-strewn path, that wound to and fro between the feet of grass-covered hills. Ahead, leering at them from on high, beyond the hills, loomed a tall, snow-capped mountain. ''Dudes,'' Rynoh exclaimed, his face a mask of frustration, ''we've been walking for hours, and still no sign of the relic.''

''Signal or no signal,'' Zylus, who was walking up front; x-reader in hand, said, ''this relic is no match for Team Battacor. We've got nothing to worry about boys.'' The words had barely left his mouth, when a rock caught his toe, tripping him over, and sending him sprawling to the ground. Rynoh and Bash tripped over their fallen leader, and crashed down on top of him, blasting the air from his lungs.

''Get off of me,'' Zylus demanded, desperately trying to wriggle free, out from under the tremendous weight of his two teammates, ''get off.'' At length, Rynoh and Bash stood up, and pulled their leader to his feet. ''Idiots,'' Zylus grumbled under his breath, brushing himself off, before resuming his march, trudging along the path, with a spring in his step wrought of anger.

For more than an hour they walked, the path continuing to snake between the feet of the grassy hills, and gradually beginning to slope upwards, towards the mountain in the far distance. ''Hey, look at that,'' Zylus exclaimed, as they rounded the base of one hill, the Battacor leader pointing towards the base of a white stone stair, that wound up and between more hills, up towards the mountain. ''Come on,'' Zylus said, motioning to his companions to follow him, and they began ascending the stair.

An hour or so later, a truly amazing sight greeted them. A towering stone-arc, hewn from the same type of white stone as the stairs, with a dialect of Greek script, inlaid in silver, running along the length of the curvature of the arc. The sheer beauty of this marvel of stone masonry would have been enough to awe and humble most people, but, not surprisingly, its grandeur was completely lost on the three brutish members of Team Battacor. They were on a mission, and so they just continued their ascent of the stairs, and passed right through the giant stone-arc.

A few minutes later, they came to another stone-arc, this one a bit larger than the previous, and, a few minutes after passing through that one, they came to another, and then another, and then another. Soon, they had passed through a total of nine stone-arcs, and they could see the tenth looming up ahead, this one the largest, and inlaid with gold, as opposed to the inlaid silver of the previous nine.

But as grand as that tenth arc was, it could not hold their attention for long for behind it loomed an even more amazing sight. It were the ruins of an ancient city of white stone-houses, with columns and statues, also hewn from the white stone, standing here and there. Yet, if Zylus and his two cohorts were even the least bit impressed, they did not show it.

''Hey, I'm getting a signal,'' Zylus exclaimed excitedly, as a marker appeared on the screen of his x-reader. ''And it's coming from over there,'' the Battacor leader pointed along a paved street of white cobblestones. Zylus led Rynoh and Bash along the street, the three e-teens searching every nook and cranny, crest and crevice, along the way.

It was a small city, and it only took the Battacor about twenty minutes to walk through to the other end of it, stopping before a huge, white stone gate that seemed to lead into the mountain. ''Oh man,'' Zylus said in an annoyed voice, ''the relic is somewhere in there.'' He walked up to the gate, and laid his hands on the smooth, white stone. He lingered in that pose for a few minutes, then his gaze snapped on his two companions. ''Don't just stand there,'' he said, ''come help me.'' The two e-teens looked at each other, then moved to help their leader, Rynoh taking up a position on Zylus' left, while Bash took up a position on his right, and then they pushed with all their considerable strength.

The gate did not budge.

The Battacor tried a different tactic then, backing up twenty feet, dipping their shoulder, and charging the gate, slamming into it, though their efforts availed them nothing but a bruised shoulder. Zylus, outraged by their inability to push the gate open, stomped down a foot and twisted it on a cobblestone, smearing the mud from his boot across its white surface.

Zylus had an idea then, backing up a dozen feet and motioning for his companions to do likewise. ''BONE CRUSHER!'' he exclaimed, as he punched at the air, and a huge hand made of red energy shot out from him, slamming into the gate with such power that the cobblestones beneath their feet trembled. The gate broke apart into rubble, and a cloud of dust rose into the air.

A few moments later, the cloud of dust thinned enough so that the Battacor could see what was behind: a tunnel of worked stone – roughly twenty feet tall and eight feet wide – that led into the mountain. Zylus walked into the tunnel, motioning for his teammates to follow.

As they moved farther and farther away from the entrance, the light available to them became scarcer and scarcer, and before long they found themselves walking in complete darkness. Zylus took out his x-reader and held it up before him as he walked, using what meager glow the small device offered to help navigate through the pitch blackness of the tunnels.

A few minutes later, they came to the top of a stair, its polished, white stone contrasting starkly with the dullish gray stone of the tunnel. Down the stair they descended, down into the deeper darkness of the tunnels. Once they had descended about a thousand steps, they hit level ground again, and from there, the tunnel forked in two before them; one path going level and straight ahead, the other sloping down gently.

Zylus, Rynoh and Bash, winded as they were from their thousand step descent, rested at the fork for a few minutes, before continuing along the level path that went straight ahead.

On and on the tunnel wound, like the burrow of a giant earth-worm, before finally opening up to a high ledge, overlooking a vast cavern, with jagged stalactites and glow-worms hanging from its high ceiling. Guessing how wide the cavern really was would have been an impossible feat for the Battacor, for beyond the ledge, the cavern was veiled in pitch blackness, and their x-readers only offered meager lighting.

''You've got to be kidding me,'' Zylus said in an annoyed tone, as he noted that there was no way down from the high ledge, ''we should've taken the other tunnel. Common, let's go back.'' They were about to do just that, when a low hiss, coming from somewhere behind them, reached their ears, sending shivers up and down their spines, and holding them fast with fear.

As one, the Battacor turned around, to regard the creature that had made the sound, but they saw nothing. Again came the hiss, this time louder, and the e-teens looked up the wall, to the undeniable outline of a creature; a blacker shadow in the darkness. It was a huge lizard, with wide-splayed legs, ending in suction cup-tipped feet, that allowed it to cling to the wall.

Zylus cried out as the giant lizard jumped at him from the wall, its open maw, sporting huge fangs, leading the way. Zylus dove to the side, narrowly avoiding the snapping jaws of the great beast, which landed heavily on the ledge, clawed feet drawing lines in the stone.

The giant lizard pivoted, its slavering maw launching for Zylus again, but the e-teen was ready this time, sidestepping and then launching a heavy punch that connected squarely on the side of the reptile's jaw, knocking it off center and to the side, its head crashing into a stone wall. It shook its head vigorously and eyed Zylus, its bulbous yellow eyes narrowing ominously.

Zylus – noticing that Rynoh was sneaking up behind the giant lizard – looked straight into the slitted, reptilian eyes of the beast, making sure that its attention was exclusively on him. But the giant lizard already knew of Rynoh's presence, and with a swish of its powerful tail, it caught the sneaking e-teen squarely across the chest, sending him sprawling to the ground, gasping for breath.

Zylus began backing cautiously, but an uneven jag in the stone caught his heel, and he fell on his back. The giant lizard eyed its prey, hissing excitedly in anticipation for the juicy morsel that it would soon feast upon; then it launched.

Zylus brought his feet in against the giant lizard's chest, bringing its momentum to an abrupt halt, and holding it at bay, fanged maw snapping shut mere inches from his ashen face. With a howl, Zylus pushed out with all his considerable strength, the muscles in his legs going taut, and the reptilian beast fell over backwards, landing heavily on its back, near the ledge's edge.

Zylus was quick to his feet, and so was the giant lizard, but before it could get back on the offensive, a roaring Bash, his broad shoulder dipped, slammed into it, knocking it over the ledge. With the lizard equivalent of a blood-curdling scream, the beast plummeted down; down into the blackness, and a few moments later, there came a sickening ''crunch,'' the sound of a lizard, skewered on a stalagmite.

''We still have that kairu to find,'' Zylus said, after they had all had a bit of a breather. ''Come on, boys. There was another tunnel at that fork, and I'm thinking that it must lead to where the relic is.'' That said, the three e-teens walked back into the tunnel that had led them onto the ledge.

They could not have seen it from the ledge – for it was simply too dark, and their x-readers offered only meager lighting – but spread before them on the cavern-floor, were the ruins of an ancient city, the larger counterpart to the ones they had seen on the outside, and the sounds of their battle had stirred something within; something far worse than any gigantic subterranean lizard.

xxxxx

The three members of Team Stax were barely able to contain their excitement – particularly Maya – as they walked through the tenth of the white stone arches, and into the ruins of the ancient city. ''Beautiful,'' Maya gasped, her amber eyes wide, as if they were straining to take in all the sights the place had to offer, at the same time. Her expression turned to one of lament then. ''Too bad we don't have time to explore any of this.''

''Don't worry, My,'' Ky said, ''once we're done questing, we can come back and have a look around.'' That said, he took up his x-reader. ''I'm not getting a signal. Maya, see if you can sense the relic.''

With a nod, Maya went down on one knee, pressed one hand against the paved street, closed her eyes and concentrated. A few seconds later, a vision came to her. She could see a dark room, containing many rows of shelves, laden with countless scrolls and scroll-tubes. The floor of the room was also littered with scrolls and scroll-tubes, and in its center, there stood a statue of an old man, with his beard worn long, and dressed in a voluminous robe and sandals, and with several scrolls tucked under one arm. Maya could feel strange vibrations coming from it, and with her mind, she reached for the statue, but as her mental hand touched it, a profound dizziness descended upon her.

Maya opened her eyes, and realized that she was lying on her back on the paved street, Ky and Boomer bending over her, concerned looks on their faces. ''Maya, are you okay,'' Ky asked, offering the young woman his hand. She nodded and took his hand, and Ky hoisted her to her feet.

''Did you see the relic?'' Boomer asked.

''Yes, or at least I think I did,'' Maya replied, ''I saw a statue, and it was giving off some majorly strange vibes, but they did not feel like anything I have felt before. I don't think we're tracking ordinary kairu here.''

''Black-kairu?'' Ky asked grimly.

''I don't think so,'' Maya replied, ''black-kairu felt wrong, felt unnatural. Its difficult to explain, but this did not feel like that, it just felt different; different from what I'm used to sensing.''

''Can you track it?'' Ky asked Maya.

''It's not what I'm used to tracking,'' Maya replied, ''but I should be able to adjust my tracking-sense to accommodate.'' She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, as she concentrated. Her eyes snapped open then, and she pointed along a paved street of white cobblestones, ''this way.'' And off they went, making their way through the streets of the ruined city, stopping whenever they saw a statue, scrutinizing it closely, and then, after realizing that it was just an ordinary statue, they went on.

About half an hour later, they came upon a scene of destruction, that sent pangs of burning anger through them, particularly Maya, whose appreciation for architectural beauty was the most profound. Before them lay piles of broken rubble; white chunks of stone polished to a faint gleam, and some pieces sporting imagery, or rather pieces of imagery, inlaid in gold. It was not hard for the three friends to discern that these bits and pieces had once been a gate, and, from the motes of dust hanging in the air, they knew that the devastation had taken place only a few minutes earlier.

Maya walked over to one pile of rubble, and reached down, open palm touching a chunk of stone. She closed her eyes and concentrated, before almost immediately opening her eyes again. ''A kairu attack was used to destroy this gate,'' she remarked.

''How do you know?'' Boomer asked.

''I can feel it in the stone,'' Maya replied. ''When an attack hits a surface, it usually leaves behind an energy signature; too faint for most people to read, but with my kairu-sensing ability, I can detect it, and judging by the size of this particular signature, I can surmise that a red attack was used to destroy this gate.

''Cool,'' Boomer exclaimed, ''I didn't know you could do that.''

''What can I say,'' Maya said, hands on her hips, head tossed back, ''I'm full of surprises.'' She looked at the entrance to the mountain then, and a determined look came over her face. ''We should keep going,'' she remarked, and motioning to the piles of rubble, she added: ''and if we're lucky, we can catch the vandals who did this.''

All that said, the three members of Team Stax resumed their hunt for the relic, stepping over the piles of rubble, and entering the tunnels, that led down; down into the dark depths of the mountain.

**To be continued...**


	3. Chapter 3: Down in the deep

**Happy new year! Here is the next chapter for the story. Enjoy :) **

**Chapter 3**

Zylus walked in front as he, Rynoh and Bash made their way along a downward-slanting tunnel of worked stone. He held his x-reader out before him, though its meager glow was of little use against the brooding darkness that hung thick about them. They rounded a bend in the tunnel, and without warning they suddenly stepped out under the high ceiling of the immense cavern they had seen from the ledge.

''Hey, look at that,'' Zylus exclaimed, pointing his x-reader down to illuminate the ground at their feet, revealing a paved street of white cobblestones. He moved over to the side then, to what he had initially thought to be a rocky outcropping of stone, but recognized now, as the glow of the x-reader came upon the stone, that it was the white wall of a house. ''This must be another town.''

They walked on for a few minutes, until they came to what appeared to be the town-square: a paved circle of white cobblestones, ringed by several large houses, and with a dried up fountain in the center. There was more light in this place – enough so that the Battacor could see each other – for spaced evenly amid the cobblestones were strange crystals that gave off light.

The buildings ringing the town-square were impressive to say the least, some with many stories, and others seemingly with just one, though it was possible that those buildings went down into deeper caves, rather than up towards the cavernous ceiling.

One building in particular caught the Battacor's attention, a huge, four story one, with chiseled stairs leading up to the house's main door. It was a gigantic affair, that door, flanked on either side by statues of robed men, scrolls tucked under the arm furthest from the door, the other hand out to the side, as if in invitation.

''Maybe the relic is in there,'' Rynoh suggested.

Zylus, on recognizing that it was as good a guess as they had – his x-reader only pointed out the area in which the relic could be found, after all, and not its exact location – just shrugged and motioned for his companions to follow him. Up the stairs they went, and between the statues, the trio noting that their eyes were made of the same type of crystal that had illuminated the town-square.

Zylus kicked open the door and stormed in, Rynoh and Bash on his heels.

The building's interior was equally well lit as the town-square, if not better, with beautiful chandeliers – made of silver and trimmed in gold, and lit by the glowing crystals – hanging from the ceiling. The paved floor was of black and white stone-tiles, so that it somewhat resembled an enormous chess-board, and that resemblance was only heightened by the place's many statues, some white and others black, all placed on a tile of the opposite color.

''Alright boys,'' Zylus exclaimed, ''let's find that kairu.''

The search began in earnest then, with the Battacor moving from one beautifully decorated room to the other, all but ignoring the architectural splendor all around them, and they even went so far as to push over furniture, damaging it in the process, though they felt not the slightest remorse at their blatant vandalizing.

Some time later, the Battacor came into a slightly darker room – a private study judging from the rows of bookcases lining the walls and from the huge desk in the room's center – and they decided to rest for a few minutes. ''Which one of you had the bright idea to go this way?'' Zylus snapped at his two companions, in his whiny, nasal voice, ''we should have gone the other way.''

''It was your idea, Zylus,'' Rynoh retorted.

''Actually, the idea was yours, genius,'' Bash snapped at Rynoh.

''Guys,'' Zylus cut in, his bluster gone.

''Well, at least I have ideas,'' Rynoh snapped back at Bash.

''Yeah, dumb ones,'' Bash retorted.

''Guys,'' Zylus said again, this time louder and more forcefully.

''What?'' Rynoh and Bash snapped back in unison.

Zylus did not reply, just pointed – with a shaky finger, the other two noted – to the room's only door, or more particularly, to the diminutive figure that now stood in the door frame.

xxxxx

''Ida,'' Maya said to her two companions, breaking the almost tangible silence, as the three of them made their way down the stairway of chiseled stone.

''What?'' Boomer, who brought up the rear of the line, with Maya walking in the front and Ky in the middle, asked in a harsh tone. He had not intended for the words to come out so harshly, but he was a bit on edge, for he had always been frightened of tight spaces, always fearing that he, with his great bulk, would get stuck. That is why he chose to walk in the rear, so that in case his his claustrophobia got the better of him and and he would charge for the exit, he would not trample Ky and Maya into the ground in the process.

Maya, understanding the stocky youth's distress, took no offense. ''This mountain,'' she explained, trying to divert Boomer's attention from his own claustrophobia, ''it's called Ida. I read about it in my history studies tablet. It was supposedly home to great craftspeople and stonemasons, no doubt the ones who built the city outside, who called themselves the dactyls; named after the mythological creatures of the same name, who were associated with this mountain.''

The trio reached level ground again a short while later, and then they were faced with a dilemma; a fork in the tunnel, one path going level and straight ahead, while the other sloped down gently.

''I say we go straight ahead,'' Boomer suggested, obviously hoping that they would all choose to stick to level ground, and thus not descend any deeper into the bowls of the mountain, ''so who's with me?''

Maya closed her eyes and concentrated, and a few seconds later she opened her eyes again. ''I'm sorry, Boom, but that tunnel does not lead to the relic'' she said apologetically, then she pointed to the other path. ''I can sense it somewhere at the end of that tunnel, though.''

''Well, at least I tried,'' Boomer mumbled to himself, then he followed his friends into the tunnel.

xxxxx

''What do you want?'' Bash demanded – with a noticeable quiver in his voice – of the figure standing in the door frame. They could not discern its features, for though the room was lit by a chandelier, the glow of the peculiar crystals did not reach the figure.

Its height and basic shape were discernible, though; it stood at about three feet tall, and would perhaps have stood taller, had it not been for its stooped posture. Its arms were long, and, with the aid of its stooped back, almost reached its knees. Its eyes, however, were perfectly visible, for they seemed to possess their own inner glow, shining yellow-green through the gloom.

With a guttural howl that sent shivers down the spines of the three e-teens, the creature leaped at them, and as it came into the light of the chandelier, they could see its ugly features clearly. Its nose and chin were thin, narrowing into two points, and protruded several inches from its ugly face, and its slavering mouth, now open wide, was lined by jagged and pointed, yellow-stained teeth. Its skin was pasty-white, and seemed to gleam in the pale light of the chandelier.

The creature's trajectory would have crashed into Bash, but the burly e-teen met it with a heavy punch that smote it heavily across the jaw and sent it flying backwards to crash hard to the ground, sprawling on the tiled floor.

Zylus and Rynoh, after getting over their initial horror at the creature's abrupt appearance, assumed battle-stances, but realized then that the thing wasn't getting up anytime soon. It managed to rise up on its elbows, but that was the extent to which it could rise, for its sensibilities spun from the hit, its ugly little head lolling awkwardly about on its shoulders.

''Well, that's the end of that,'' Zylus said, then he chuckled, trying to hide the fact that he had been stricken dumb with terror.

''That runt thought he could take us down,'' Bash laughed, then he spat on the floor, ''yeah right.''

''Bros,'' Rynoh said in a tiny voice, pointing to the door, ''I think he has friends.''

Into the room they poured, the hideous little creatures, one after the other, until the room was packet full. Bash was the first to explode into motion, launching powerful punches and kicks, dropping one creature after the other to the floor, and Zylus and Rynoh were quick to follow suit. Fortunately the room was not very large, so only a few of the things could get at them at any given time.

Before long, the creatures began to realize that to get close to the trio was to get knocked to the ground, and so they began to fall back toward the door. The Battacor fought on all the more furiously, until they were out of the room and out into the hallway. While there were many creatures on both sides of the corridor, there were much fewer on their right, and so they ploughed on in that direction, sweeping aside any creature unfortunate enough to try to stand against them.

The Battacor did not realize it but the creatures, who had probably never stepped out under the open sky and seen the sun, squinted in the light, and were thus less formidable opponents by far than if they were fighting in complete blackness.

A few minutes later, the Battacor could see the door that led out into the town-square, and upon realizing that, they broke off from combat and sprinted for the exit, their longer legs putting more distance between themselves and the little beasts. As soon as they were outside, Zylus pivoted and launched a pair of _bone crusher_ attacks at the two statues flanking the great door. The statues fell to the side, and broke apart into rubble, thus blocking the way through the door, leaving the creatures stuck inside the building, on the opposite side of the barrier.

''I say we ditch this dump,'' Rynoh suggested, panting heavily.

''We can't,'' Zylus lamented, ''we have to get that kairu-relic, or master Lokar will have our hides.'' He pointed at another building, a low to the ground structure, with a wide set of double doors. ''I say we continue searching in that building.''

''Oh man,'' Rynoh lamented, before following Zylus and Bash into the building.

xxxxx

''What was that?'' Ky asked his two companions, as the sound of stone being shattered tore through the air, and a slight shudder coursed through the ground of the slanting tunnel they were moving along.

''Probably the Battacor,'' Maya surmised, ''those vandals are probably busy laying waste to whatever is down there. Just wait until I get my hands on them.'' Ky and Boomer smiled and nodded.

xxxxx

This building was not quite as regal as the previous the Battacor had searched through; as a matter of fact, it would be hard to label it as regal at all, for while the other one had had a tiled floor of white and black stone, the floor of this building was just dull, gray stone, though it had been polished to a smooth finish.

The furniture in this building was all wood, bookcases and bookshelves of various makes, shapes and sizes, all rotted and covered in cobwebs. And in those shelves and bookcases were score upon score of old and dusty scrolls, most of which seemed so ancient and rotted that they would just fall into dust at the slightest touch. What little light was available in this building came from crystals embedded in the stone-walls, which had also been polished to porcelain smoothness.

Zylus and his two cohorts began their search, moving from room to unremarkable room, but found nothing save for dust and cobwebs, which were abundant, and seemed as ancient as the place itself. Eventually, they came into a room which contained a stairway that led down to a lower floor.

Reluctantly the three e-teens made their way down the stairway, until they came into a large room, dark and containing rows of rotted wooden shelves, laden with many, many scrolls and scroll-tubes. A miriad of scrolls and scroll-tubes were strewn across the floor. In the center of the room there stood a statue of an old man, wearing a voluminous robe and sandals, with his long beard hanging over his chest, and with scrolls tucked under one arm.

Zylus took up his x-reader, and the small device began to ''beep'' eagerly.

''We found it boys,'' Zylus exclaimed, his hands planted on his hips, a stupidly proud look on his face, ''master Lokar's gonna be so stoked.'' He took a step toward the statue, but so did Bash, the burly e-teen tripping over Zylus' foot, and falling headlong to crash heavily against the statue, which fell over, shattering into pieces.

Zylus was about to give Bash a substantial piece of his mind and knock him silly, but before he even got the chance, the kairu-energy from the relic rose ominously from the pile of rocks like a tidal-wave. The faces of the e-teens crinkled up with confusion, for this energy was not the bluish-white color of pure kairu, nor was it the purplish-black color of black kairu, but a light shade of gray; a color of the energy hitherto unknown to the brutish members of Team Battacor.

''What in the,'' Zylus began, but he could say no more, for the mysterious energy lashed out at them, enveloping the screaming e-teens in a dizzying swirl of gray, merging with their very being, and turning their eyes a shade of gray.

**To be continued...**


	4. Chapter 4: Gray eyes

**Here is the fourth chapter for this collaboration story. **

**Chapter 4**

Maya walked up in front, x-reader held out straight before her, the meager glow of the small device cutting a shaft of light through the gloom of this place that had never witnessed the light of the sun. Behind her, coming up second in the line, Ky peered all around intently, his keen eyes discerning the vague silhouettes of houses, flanking the cobblestoned street they were plodding along. Behind him, bringing up the rear of the line, came Boomer, the stocky youth walking a bit straighter now that they were out of the tight and twisting tunnels that had brought them to this place.

''You sensing anything Maya?'' Ky asked.

''Its faint but I sense the energy somewhere nearby,'' Maya replied. The young woman spotted something from the corner of her eye then, and without warning she rushed off, taking the x-reader, their source of light with her, leaving her companions bumbling about in complete darkness.

Using the glow of Maya's x-reader as a guide, the two boys managed to catch up to the young woman, where she stood before the high wall of a house. ''What was that about?'' Ky asked, but then his attention was stolen by the wall.

And what a wall.

It was covered with layers and layers of beautiful carvings, that seemed to illustrate the entire history of the city and that of her people. Starting at the top left corner, the mural depicted a group of people, wielding pickaxes and other mining tools, the lot of them with a stoop in their back, a testament to their years of hard and stoic labor, mining the rock of the mountain.

Next came an image of the people cracking a vein in the rock with their pickaxes, and releasing something that seemed to be kairu energy to the three friends, and tendrils of that energy appeared to reach out and envelope the people. ''Fascinating,'' Maya muttered under her breath, as she carefully studied the carvings.

After that came an image depicting the people, which now wore flowing robes with voluminous sleeves, standing straight and proud, the stoop all but gone from their backs, constructing the great underground city, and the last image of the mural, which was in the lower right corner, depicted the city after its completion, a testament to the genius of man.

xxxxx

So intent were the three friends on the scrutinizing of the mural, that they failed to notice the multitude of yellow-green eyes, staring at them hungrily from out of the dark windows of some nearby buildings.

xxxxx

''The people on this mural must be the dactyls of legend that supposedly inhabited this very mountain,'' Maya said. ''Who would have thought that kairu played such a prominent part in helping them achieve the status of legend.'' The young woman patted her chin thoughtfully. ''But what could have caused a civilization as accomplished as that of the dactyls to crumble into ruin.''

''There are no bones around,'' Ky remarked, ''or at least none that I can see. Maybe they just left.''

And then they were off again, Maya walking in the lead, and before long they came upon what appeared to be the town-square. This area was centered by a dried-up fountain, and lit by strange crystals, that were spaced evenly on the cobblestoned ground. Maya closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, trying to sense where the kairu was at, and then she pointed to one of the several large buildings ringing the square, a squat and broad structure with a wide set of double-doors. ''The kairu is in there,'' she said determinedly. ''I'm sure of it.''

The three friends walked over to the doors to the structure, and pushed them open, the portal giving way to a large room, covered in dust and cob-webs, and filled with rotted wooden bookcases, and there were many scrolls and scroll-tubes, and several books as well, laden upon those bookcases, and strewn across the smooth stone floor.

''Do you hear that?'' Maya asked, putting her hand behind her ear, listening intently. Ky and Boomer did likewise, and indeed they could hear the sound of several conversing voices, echoing off the stone, with one of the voices having a whiny and nasal flare to it, which they had heard all too often over the years on their quests to find kairu.

''Zylus,'' Ky remarked. ''The Battacor are here.''

''Just what this place needed,'' Boomer said sarcastically.

''Come on,'' Ky said, motioning for the others to follow him, as he sped away in the direction of the voices. They ran down corridors and through rooms, many of which were similar to that first one they had been in, and then they came to chizzled stairs, descending down into darkness, and the voices drifted out of that gloom.

They carefully made their way down the stairs, evenly spaced so as to have room to leap back in case the Battacor were waiting for them in the darkness up ahead.

They came into a large room, dark and filled with row after row of bookcases, laden with scrolls and scroll-tubes, and several conventional books as well, and many more were strewn about the room. Centering the chamber was a pile of rubble, which had once been a statue, judging by the bit of head that lay among the stones of the pile.

But their attention did not stay on the room for very long, for near the back of the chamber was Zylus, comfortably perched atop a bookcase, that was a little bit less rotten, and thus a little bit sturdier, than the rest of the furniture in the room. Ky, Maya and Boomer approached carefully, glancing suspiciously in all directions, half expecting to see Rynoh and Bash, poised to jump them.

And indeed they did see the two e-teens, but they were not preparing an ambush; to the contrary, they were doing very little to remain hidden, Rynoh sitting with his back propped up against the side of a bookcase, and Bash sat against a wall. And they were all three of them reading scrolls, the members of Team Stax noted with surprise.

It also surprised the three friends to see that the normally brutish e-teens were not treating the scrolls badly, but with great reverence, with even Bash, holding his scroll in his huge paws, without so much as creasing the paper.

''Gentlemen, it would appear that our guests have arrived,'' Zylus announced to his cohorts, the more than uncharacteristic verbal maneuver freezing the three members of Team Stax where they stood. Rynoh and Bash stood up, reverently putting the scrolls they had been handling into their respective tubes, and then placing those tubes in the nearest bookcase. Zylus nimbly dropped down from his perch, landing lightly on the smooth stone floor, and Rynoh and Bash were quick to his side, the three standing in front of the back wall of the chamber.

Maya eyed the pile of rubble that had once been the statue from her vision, and then she turned her attention fully upon the three e-teens, who stood straight-backed and proud, a smug grin splayed on their faces. ''You guys just can't go anywhere without making a mess, now can you,'' she asked as much as stated, then she angrily pointed to the pile of rubble centering the large room. ''That statue was more than a thousand years old, a priceless piece of history, and you have the audacity to just walk in here and smash it into pieces, as though if it were of no worth whatsoever.''

''I do agree that it was a mistake to smash the statue,'' Zylus answered calmly, ''I am pained to wonder what prize one might have gotten out of selling a piece so very valuable, but alas, that secret is forever lost to the world now.''

He turned an angry glare on Bash.

''My heartfelt apologies,'' Bash said, dropping into a quick bow intended for Zylus and Rynoh, ''I do admit that it was my clumsiness that led to the subsequent destruction of this oh so fine piece of historia.''

''Yes, you were quite clumsy I do dare say, indeed I do dare say,'' Rynoh remarked.

''We shall discuss this matter at length among our own,'' Zylus announced calmly, dissolving any tension that might have been forming between his friends, then his stare fell fully upon Team Stax once more, ''now, the two of you, would you mind, we have guests to entertain.''

The three members of Team Stax stood as if turned to stone, eyes open wide in shock and mouths hanging agape in blank astonishment. Never before had they heard something even remotely as archaic and complex coming out of the mouths of the brutish Battacor, who were supposedly dumber than the soil upon which they walked.

''What have you guys been smoking?'' Boomer balked incredulously.

Zylus did not reply, just glanced around at the rows and rows of bookcases, and at all the valuable scrolls and books that were laden upon them, and then he sighed audibly and looked to his friends. ''I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it,'' he said. ''Alas, it shall have to be ruined.''

Maya slowly shook her head, incredulity showing on her tanned face. ''Zylus,'' she began, ''did you just quote Shakespeare.''

''Tis true, tis true,'' Zylus replied, a smug grin splayed across his face. He then turned a lewd stare upon the young woman, before uttering something in some language Ky and Boomer neither understood nor recognized, though they could see by the way Maya's face was turning a bright shade of red, that she understood what the e-teen leader had just said.

''You... you...'' Maya stuttered, angry fires burning in her amber eyes, and then, with an animalistic snarl that seemed to shake the very foundation of the mountain, the young woman loosed a projectile of her inner-kairu, a crackling bolt of forked lightning that shot out from her extended hand.

The corners of Zylus' mouth crept upward in a wicked smile, as he too extended his hand, and a protective barrier of gray energy, his own inner-kairu, emanated from his hand, encompassing the whole of his body and absorbing the power of Maya's attack into itself.

''Take care of your temper, my dear,'' Zylus teased, then he tapped his stubby green fingers against his hairless chin, and hummed in a rather exaggerated manner, feigning to be deep in thought. ''I can't very well let your action go unpunished, now can I,'' he mused, like a parent contemplating on how to best punish an unruly child. ''I mean, it goes against the Kairu Code of Conduct; an oh so fine piece of writing I might add, which must be respected and adhered to at all times.''

Zylus' smile widened as he extended his hand, the gray energy encompassing his form, as well as the energy from Maya's failed attack, gathering into a ball in his hand. ''Would you do me a kindness,'' he said, ''and give my greetings to our little friends.''

That said, Zylus loosed the attack, a devastating beam of grayish-blue energy that shot out from his extended hand, but instead of striking directly the three members of Team Stax, the attack struck the floor at their feet, shattering the smooth stone.

Ky and Maya, who did not manage to react in time, fell screaming into the abyss, but Boomer leaped forward, clearing the gaping chasm that had just swallowed his friends, and grabbed Zylus by the front of his t-shirt. He cocked a clenched fist, thinking to slug the e-teen leader in the face, but then he found himself staring into Zylus's gray eyes, a sight he had not expected, and in the moment of hesitation that ensued, Rynoh and Bash grabbed him and held him fast, driving him to his knees before their leader. ''A good try,'' Zylus congratulated, planting his boot against Boomer's broad chest, ''but hardly good enough.''

Zylus pushed Boomer over the precipice, sending him screaming down into the dark abyss.

**To be continued...**

**So here it is; I don't know when I'll be able to update this story next, for I have school, and then there is the chapter for Malice.**


	5. Chapter 5: A fight in the dark

**Chapter 5**

Boomer opened his hazel-colored eyes, the young man seeing nothing at all, except for the canopy of blackness, streaked occasionally by silver stars and slivers, looming above his head, and he could feel nothing save the pain in his battered torso, limbs and head, and the solid stone beneath his body.

A pained groan escaped his mouth as he propped himself up on one elbow, rubbing his aching head with his free hand, and several additional groans and grunts escaped his lips, as the young man slowly turned his head to look around. At first he could see nothing at all, but gradually as the minutes slipped past, his eyes adapted to the blackness, and before long he could see the vague silhouettes of two still forms around him.

''Ky,'' Boomer groaned, crawling over to his friend on all fours, shaking him slightly, and then he breathed a profound sigh of relief, as his prodding enlisted a slight groan of pain from the semi-unconscious young man. Ky opened his icy-blue eyes and rose up to a sitting position, his wince at the pain in his body all but hidden by the pervading gloom that loomed about them.

''Maya,'' the pair of them breathed in unison, dismay thick in their voice, both turning their worried gaze upon the silhouette of the young woman, which lay very still a few feet away, all sprawled out on the ground. Ky and Boomer scrambled over to her, and, gently rolled her onto her back, and then they sighed audibly with relief, as her large amber-colored eyes fluttered open, a pained groan escaping her lips.

''What the hell just just happened,'' Maya asked groggily, rising up to assume a sitting position, knuckling her aching lower back, and rubbing her bruised upper arm, wincing with the pain that shot through her body.

''We got our butts handed to us by the Battacor,'' Boomer explained, disdain evident in his voice, and then the image of Zylus' gray eyes, the last thing he had seen before he had been pushed over the edge and into the chasm, came clearly into his mind. ''Well, at least I think that it were them. Did you guys notice their eyes, by any chance?''

''No,'' Ky replied, ''why?''

''They were gray,'' Boomer explained.

''Like the kairu-barrier that blocked my attack,'' Maya remarked, ''I've never seen anything like it before.''

''This whole thing doesn't add up,'' Ky said. ''And what did Zylus mean when he asked us to give his greetings to his little friends.''

''I don't know,'' Maya replied, patting her chin, apparently deep in thought. ''What I do know, however, is that we must find a way out of these caves, so we can get back to the monastery, and report our findings to master Boddai.''

''Agreed,'' Ky said, then he looked to the many tunnels that led out of the chamber they were in. ''But which way do we go?''

''One tunnel is as good as any, I suppose,'' Maya said.

''Alright then,'' Ky said, motioning to one tunnel which was higher and wider than the others, ''let's try this one.''

And off they went, Ky walking up front, glowing x-reader out before him, with Maya coming up next in line, with Boomer, who had just remembered, to his ultimate dismay, that he was claustrophobic, bringing up the rear. A short while later, though, the trio came to a stop, for before them, the passage forked into four tunnels, with each path appearing just as ominous and foreboding as did the last.

''Which tunnel do we pick?'' Maya asked

''Eeny, meeny, miny, and moe,'' Boomer began chanting, his extended finger pointing alternately at one of the four branches of the fork, before coming to rest on the second passage to the left.

''It's as good a guess as we've got,'' Ky reasoned.

Suddenly, Maya spotted a flicker of movement from the corner of her eye, a stirring of the deeper shadows within the tunnel far on the right. ''Guys, we've got company,'' the young woman said to her two companions.

''You guys may have defeated us up above, but back there you took us by surprise,'' Boomer shouted in open challenged into the tunnel to the Battacor, whom he thought were hiding just out of sight. ''But down here, I'm afraid you've got no such advantage. You can't take us by surprise again, so just step out of those shadows you're hiding in, and play. We're ready for you this time.''

A pair of yellow-green eyes that seemed to glow in the darkness appeared within the shadows in the tunnel, squinting at the trio, their hunger accentuated by the pointed, slavering teeth that caught the light of the x-reader.

Taken completely by surprise, Boomer let out a shrill, almost girlish shriek, and then he jumped behind Maya, trying desperately to hide behind her slender frame, though it was a plain fruitless endeavor since he was so much larger than she. ''What is it,'' he asked, his voice no more than a hoarse whisper, the stocky youth peeking over the young woman's shoulder.

Maya was about to say something in reply, when the creature in the tunnel leaped out of the shadows, its smooth, white skin reflecting the light of the x-reader, so that its hide seemed almost to glow in the soft light. It charged straight in at Ky, brandishing a small club, no larger than the young man's forearm, and as it got into range, it lashed out at Ky with the weapon.

Ky reacted quickly, his hand shooting out, grabbing hold of the shaft of the club, right above the creature's fingers, and his other hand shot out then, grabbing the club by its fat end, and then he twisted it. With his greater strength and leverage, the young man managed to gain the angle, and he tore the weapon free of the creature's grasp, and then he brought the club back in at the side of its head, knocking the monster away into the darkness.

''Well done,'' Maya congratulated the young man, but no sooner had the words left her mouth when another one of the little creatures leaped in at her out from the shadows, this one carrying a small, stone-headed hatchet. The creature swung its weapon, but Maya had already darted out of range, and then she reversed her momentum, exploding into a sudden charge, leading with a heavy punch that squashed the monster's long, pointy nose flat against its cheek.

The creature dropped the hatchet to clutch at its broken nose, and Maya caught the weapon before it even hit the ground, swinging it in at the side monster's head, the flat of the axe-head dropping the creature in an unconscious heap to the ground. A third monster came in at the group, and then a fourth, one carrying another club, while the other only held a rock.

The club-wielder swung at Ky, the young man meeting the attack with a swing of his own cudgel, and as the two weapons came together, wood creaking under the force of the blow, he lashed out with his free hand, landing a solid punch on the creature's jaw and knocking it away.

Ky looked to where the stone-wielder had run off to, and saw that Boomer had the situation well under control, holding the creature suspended two feet from the ground by its scrawny neck, the creature wacking desperately at the stocky young man's too powerful arm with its all but useless rock. The corded muscles in Boomer's arm bulged taut, the young man heaving with all his considerable strength, launching the monster away, screaming and flailing wildly with its spindly limbs, to crash heavily into another pair of monsters that was coming in at the group.

Ky used the reprieve to pick up the club dropped by his last opponent, and then he tossed the weapon over to Boomer, who deftly caught it, just in the nick of time to intercept the incoming swing of a a hatchet.

''Well, now we know what Zylus meant by his little friends,'' Ky remarked.

''And what drove the dactyls from their city,'' Maya surmised, as her knee shot out and up, connecting heavily under the chin of an incoming monster, snapping its mouth shut so quickly and with such force that it bit its own tongue.

''All in favor of leaving this place, say aye,'' Ky accentuated that last word with a two-handed wallop of his cudgel that smashed against the side of a monster's knee, breaking that knee and sending the thing sprawling to the ground.

''Aye,'' Maya and Boomer exclaimed in unison.

''This way,'' Maya said, darting for the far left tunnel, the furthest one from the one from where came the monsters. Suddenly, a spear was thrust out from the shadows of that tunnel, and Maya had to throw her hips over to the side in order to avoid being skewered. She centered her balance in the blink of an eye, and in the same motion brought her hatchet down hard on the spear, snapping it at mid shaft.

''On second thought,'' Maya began, jumping back as an axe swiped across in front of her, then she rushed back in at the diminutive monster, laying it low with a heavy punch to the mouth. ''We should probably go this way,'' the young woman rushed toward the second tunnel on the left, ready to spring away this time, but as fortune would have it, no monsters presented themselves in that tunnel.

Ky and Boomer extricated themselves from combat with several of the monsters, and followed their friend into the tunnel, the creatures, howling insanely with wild abandon, hot on their heels in close pursuit. For several minutes they ran along the tunnel, which sloped upwards at an increasingly steep angle, and then, when traversing the tunnel was becoming increasingly difficult, the floor leveled out again, and the three friends could see that a bend in the tunnel loomed up ahead.

Maya was the first to reach the bend, but she skidded to an abrupt halt, and with a yelp she leaped backwards, as a massive lizard head appeared around the bend, its huge maw, studded with pointed fangs as long as kitchen-knives, snapping closed just inches in from her face.

Maya scrambled back to her friends, then turned around to regard the creature, who had come fully around the bend, to reveal that it carried a rider, one of the small monsters astride its back in a crude-looking saddle, and clutching a long spear in one grubby hand.

More of the little monsters appeared around the bend, and the one riding the lizard, seemingly a creature of higher rank, hinting at some sort of hierarchy among the savage and crude monsters, pointed at the three friends and spoke a command in the guttural tongue of its wretched kind. The little monsters charged.

Were there any side-passages back there,'' Ky asked.

''None that I saw,'' Maya replied.

''We'll have make our stand here then,'' Ky exclaimed, ''and try to get past the lizard and the other monsters.''

''Alright then,'' Maya said, brandishing her stone-headed hatchet.

''When I catch Zylus I'll wring his miserable neck,'' Boomer promised.

The monsters came on ferociously from the front, and the trio could hear a chorus of guttural voices some distance back along the tunnel behind them. The pursuing monsters were catching up to them.

A flying spear came arching in at Ky, but the young man sidestepped the incoming missile, one arm shooting out and to the side, lightning fast, his hand clamping about the shaft of the pole-arm. He threw his cudgel over to Boomer, who caught it, going into a wild frenzy, swiping his two clubs to and fro with wild abandon, knocking aside spears and axes, and even a spear, and laying low every monster foolish enough to come in at him.

Maya was no less animated, the young woman gracefully darting to and fro with perfect balance, lashing out at monsters with her hands and feet, and also with her hatchet, though she took care not to kill any of the creatures. This was their home, after all, and what right did she have to come in here and kill them.

Ky, using the spear as one would use a quarterstaff, was parrying attacks with wild abandon, knocking aside clubs and spears and axes, and whenever he saw an opportunity present itself, he was quick to lash out and lay low one of the monsters.

The ranks of the monstrous horde were thinning rapidly, with more and more white-skinned creatures getting dropped unconscious to the hard ground, though the lizard-rider and ita mount remained. Ky levelled his spear the rider's way in an open invitation for it to come on, and indeed, the creature did charge, its long and wicked spear held out straight and level before it.

But Ky surprised the rider by running several steps forward, as if to meet the charge, but then he put the tip of his spear against the ground, the shaft bending under his weight, before launching himself up into the air and over the startled rider. As the young man passed over the monster, his arm shot out and around its scrawny neck, pulling it from the saddle to crash down heavily beside Ky. The monster tried to get back to its feet and pick up its spear, but Ky decked it with a heavy blow to the face.

Maya motioned for her friends to stand perfectly still, as the giant lizard charged in at her and Boomer. Trusting in the young woman, the two boys did just that, and then Maya looked into the slitted yellow-green eyes of the lizard. The monster slowed it charge, forked tongue flicking in and out of its massive mouth. Maya began to writhe slightly where she stood, as a snake would, hands swaying hypnotically above her head, her hips moving left and right, and all the while her eyes remained locked with those of the lizard, communicating with the reptilian beast and calming it.

Then the giant lizard turned about and slid back the way it had come, disappearing around the bend in the tunnel, leaving behind a proud Maya, and two thoroughly perplexed Ky and Boomer, staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed at their friend.

''How did you do that?'' Ky asked.

''I talked the lizard into chilling out,'' Maya explained, grinning widely.

The hoots and shouts drew closer at their backs, and so they took off in a dead run, sprinting around the bend in the tunnel, and charging along the passage, hoping against hope that there were no more of the ugly little monsters waiting for them up ahead.

They came to a stop a few minutes later at a fork in the tunnel, one path going left, one going straight ahead, and one going right. ''Oh man, which tunnel do we take?'' Boomer asked, desperation edging his voice.

''I hear wind in that one,'' Ky said, pointing at the path that went left, ''it probably leads to the...'' Suddenly, four of the little creatures landed on the trio, dropping from holes in the ceiling, one crashing into Boomer, two into Ky, and another one crashed into Maya.

Boomer reached over his wide shoulder and grabbed the monster, which clung to his back, by the throat, then he plucked the creature free, and with tremendous force he slammed it into a wall, knocking it unconscious.

Ky was not doing as good, however, with two of the creatures raining blow after blow on the young man with their small clubs. Boomer rushed to the young Stax's aid, viciously ploughing one of his attackers over and baring it to the ground, before knocking it out with a blow to the head. Ky quickly got the upper hand on the remaining monster, and a well-aimed punch to the diaphragm was enough to drop it breathless to the ground.

Maya was by far the worst off, with the little monster hanging on her, its spindly but surprisingly strong arms locked fast about her throat, denying her breath. The young woman launched herself backwards into a stone wall, sandwiching into the monster. The creature did not let go, rather it just shook its head and opened wide its fanged and slavering mouth, its hungry eyes locked firmly on Maya's exposed neck.

The creature's head snapped forward, taking a big mouthful of warm flesh, though that big mouthful of flesh came in the form of Boomer's clenched fist, slamming into its open mouth, breaking away several of its fangs and launching it away.

After taking a few moments of catch their breath, the three friends ran along the tunnel that turned left, and they could feel that a faint breeze, so faint in fact that had they been outside they probably would not have noticed it. But hours spent underground had made them more receptible to such things, and they could feel the breeze quite clearly.

Before long they came upon a door of stone, gray stone and not the white one that the city had been built from. The plainness of the portal showed them that this was a secret door that was most likely all but invisible from the outside. The wind had come in through a small key-hole in the door. They pushed at the door with all their might.

The portal was locked.

The sounds of pursuit were drawing closer, and they knew that unless they found a way to open the door, they would surely perish. ''Don't worry,'' Ky said, ''I got this.'' He went down on one knee, and broke off the pin of his belt, then looked to Boomer. ''I'm gonna need a second pin,'' he said, and the stocky man too broke the pin from his belt, and handed it over to Ky.

Ky then began to pick the lock.

The frenzied hoots and shouts, and the sounds of rushing feet drew closer. Boomer and Maya, the pair of them grim-faced, turned in the direction where the monsters would come in at them, brandishing their weapons, intending to take their toll, whatever the final outcome might be.

Ky blocked out what was happening around him, focusing solely on the lock, drops of sweat trickling down his face, a look of unwavering determination stamped upon his angular features.

Boomer and Maya could faintly see movement in the tunnel, and they could hear the guttural voices of the monsters, and, to their ultimate dismay, the hisses and growls of giant subterranean lizards. ''You might wanna hurry up back there, Ky,'' Maya said.

''Yeah,'' Boomer seconded, ''what she said.''

But Ky didn't hear what either of them said. His focus was solely on the key-hole and his lock-picks, and the prospects of a horrible death did not register with him at all, as he attacked the lock with fervor.

Boomer and Maya could see the wiry silhouettes of the creatures now, their yellow-green eyes glowing in the dark, and they also spotted the much larger silhouettes of the giant lizards, baring monstrous riders in crude saddles.

''Ky...'' Maya said, brasing herself.

''Hurry up, bro,'' Boomer said, clutching his two cudgels so forcefully that his knuckles went white from the strain.

They could see the little monsters clearly now, their milky-white skin glowing in the soft light of their x-readers, their slavering jaws and pointed teeth also catching the light and glistening slightly, their grubby hands clutching small clubs and hatchets and hammers, and long and wicked spears, which could be flying in at any moment.

''Ky!'' Maya verily shouted.

''There,'' Ky said as the lock clicked, and then he pushed at the door with all his might, the bright light of the sun outside spilling through the now open portal. With a blood-curdling shriek, the little monsters threw their arms up before their eyes, to shield them from the intensity of the light, and then they began to back away, scrambling, falling all over each other, pushing further and further away from the stinging light, and further and further into the dark embrace of the tunnels.

Ky, Maya and Boomer, though they too were somewhat blinded by the light, managed to get through the door, and close it behind them. Then they fell down to their knees on the grassy slope of Mount Ida, finally letting their nerves and fatigue overcome them. They stayed there for more than an hour, with no one saying a word, but then they stood up and set out to find the X-caper, that they might return to the monastery and report their findings to master Boddai.

xxxxx

''Battacor,'' Lokar said, veritably spitting the name of the team that now stood before him in a darkened room in his lair, a single, conical beam of light shining down from a high spot in the ceiling, casting ominous shadows upon the dark master's face, subsequently making him seem all the more outrage. ''Where is my kairu?''

Zylus exchanged glances with his two team-mates, then stepped forward and went down on one knee. ''Our heartfelt apologies, master,'' the e-teen leader began, ''we were so very close to achieving the goal you desired, but sadly, a single misstep reduced the relic to rubble.''

Lokar, taken aback by the usually dim-witted Zylus' new and improved speech-pattern, did not immediately reply, but then he realized that the Battacor were most likely playing some trick on him to save their miserable hides. This realization only angered the already outraged Lokar all the more, his hand shooting out, and a ball of rosy purple energy appearing in his hand. ''Explain,'' he hissed through gritted teeth, ''or I will reduce you and your miserable friends to a boiling puddle of tar.''

''As I said,'' Zylus began, ''we were oh so close to getting the kairu, but then Bash here tripped and demolished the statue that served as the relic. It was right after that unfortunate accident that the kairu within the relic, a gray version we had never before seen or heard of, was released from the statue, and it sought refuge within our very own bodies. As you may already have surmised, great master, is that we are not quite the same, dim-witted, e-teens you sent on this most important of quests. No, we are smarter now, thanks to the gray kairu.'' Rynoh and Bash went down on their knees. ''So we beseech you, master, to forgive us our slight, and we beg of you to trust that we will be a valuable asset to you in the future.''

Lokar, all traces of anger gone from his sharp features, smiled wickedly. ''Be at ease, my warriors,'' he said, motioning for the e-teens to stand, which they did, ''and please, you must tell me more about this... gray kairu you encountered on your quest.''

''It would be our pleasure, master,'' Zylus, Rynoh and Bash said in unison, smiling wickedly.

xxxxx

Zane, Zair and Techris, stood outside the chamber where Lokar and the Battacor were. ''The things I would give to be able to see how Lokar is scolding those Battacor idiots,'' Zane exclaimed. ''They must be begging him for a quick death right about now. I almost feel bad for them.'' The e-teen leader let out a laugh. ''Well, I said almost.''

At that moment, the door to the darkened chamber opened, and the Battacor, their backs straight and a smug expression on their faces, strode out, with Lokar's uproarious laughter drifting out behind them.

''Well,'' Zane said, a wicked gleam in his black eyes. ''You three must have screwed up pretty spectacularly for Lokar to be laughing at your failure to capture the kairu.'' The green-skinned e-teen leader laughed.

Zylus silenced Zane with a gray-eyed stare. ''Oh, to the contraire, Radikor,'' he began, spitting out the team name with some disdain, ''by failing to capture the kairu, we have secured our place as Lokar's favorite e-teen team, and not to mention his most powerful.''

''That is bullshit,'' Zane said, and though he didn't show it outwardly, he was a bit unnerved by what Zylus had just said. ''Team Battacor can never become Lokar's favourite team of e-teens,'' he began, ''that place belongs to the Radikor, as well as that of the most powerful team.''

''You speak of distant days,'' Zylus exclaimed, then his hand snapped out, clamping about Zane's throat and pressing him hard against a wall, Rynoh and Bash stepping between their leader and Zair and Techris, who were bristling. Zylus' gray eyes seemed to bore holes into the usually indomitable Zane. ''Make no mistake about it,'' the Battacor leader began, ''there are going to be some changes in management around here.'' He let Zane go, and the Radikor leader slid down the wall, his expression shocked. ''Now, if you will excuse us,'' Zylus said, turning to leave, ''there is work to be done.''

Team Battacor walked away, leaving in their wake a very perplexed, and thoroughly intimidated, Team Radikor.

**To be continued...**


	6. Chapter 6: A new quest

**Chapter 6**

''Very peculiar,'' master Boddai mused to himself, stroking his chin, apparently deep in thought. He had just finished listening to students recite the events that had befallen them in the city beneath Mount Ida. He had indeed been interested by the strange creatures his students had encountered there, but he had been even more intrigued to learn of the intellectual awakening undergone by the Battacor. According to Maya, Zylus had even quoted Shakespeare.

''By the way,'' Ky said, turning to Maya. ''What did Zylus say to make you that angry? I've never seen you lose control like that before.''

''He asked for something he's not getting,'' Maya replied in a tight voice. ''I have no more to say on the matter.''

Ky promptly let the matter go.

''If they are as intelligent as I am led to believe,'' master Boddai said, ''then we must exercise extreme caution, lest we'll run the risk of being...'' He stopped as a wave of nausea washed over him, making his vision spin. Gasping, the old master fell down on one knee, pearls of sweat beading on his forehead.

''Master B, what is it?'' Maya asked in a worried tone.

Gradually the feeling passed, and the old man stood up straight. ''I have sensed a kairu deposit somewhere in China,'' master Boddai said. ''A vast one.''

''We'll go get it, master,'' said Boomer.

''Be careful,'' the old man implored. ''If I have sensed the energy then surely Lokar and his e-teens have learned of it as well.'' With a respectful bow to their master, the three members of Team Stax hurried off.

xxxxx

''Most intriguing,'' Lokar mused to himself as he studied a chart displaying the IQ rating of Zylus, Rynoh and Bash. He had had them take an IQ test earlier, and they had all three of them passed with fine colors. Zylus had been rated highest, at three-hundred and two, while Rynoh and Bash had tied in second place, with an IQ score of three-hundred. ''Most intriguing indeed.''

''I must admit I was somewhat disappointed in the composers of this test,'' Zylus said, for he and his fellows had corrected an error in the test, an error that Lokar, to his ultimate horror, had not noticed. ''I feel they should at least have done their homework before putting pen to paper.''

Lokar put the chart away and heaved a sigh, blowing away his jealousy, and forcing himself to think of his gain in having so intelligent lackeys at his disposal. He could make them help him work on a machine he was building, a device that would ensure him dominance over the entire earth. He could even...

Suddenly an image of rows upon rows of glowing statues, fashioned into the likenesses of ancient Chinese warriors, flashed through his mind, followed by a sensation he was all too familiar with. Lokar opened his eyes and smiled. Before assigning the Battacor to working on his machine, he would have to have them pick up this kairu deposit. But there was so much of it he doubted the three of them would be enough.

''What is it, master,'' Zylus asked.

Lokar did not answer, but lifted one arm, his hand glowing a rosy purple hue. An alarm went off, and Team Radikor and Team Imperiaz rushed into the room, taking up a position on either side of Team Battacor. ''You summoned us, master Lokar,'' Zane asked, fist to breast, dipping a respectful bow.

''I have sensed a vast amount of kairu-energy somewhere in China,'' Lokar said. ''Too vast to be collected by one team. I have thus decided you will all be going on this kairu hunt. And...'' His amber-eyed gaze settled on Zylus, Rynoh and Bash. ''I have also decided the Battacor will be in charge.'' Lokar smiled wickedly. ''Fail me in this, and my retribution will be swift. Now begone!''

The e-teens bowed and walked out of the room.

xxxxx

The day was bright and the sky was clear, as the X-caper sped through the air, unerringly making its way toward its destination. ''We're getting close,'' Maya said where she stood at the navigation map. ''Just a couple more miles to go.'' She reached for a small dot on the screen with both hands, then pulled them apart diagonally, enlarging the dot into the map of a small settlement. ''Looks like the relic is in an abandoned village.''

''Great,'' Boomer muttered under his breath. ''Another abandoned settlement.'' He spoke louder then so his friends could hear him. ''I wonder what kind of monsters we'll run into this time.'' His voice was thick with sarcasm, but Ky and Maya nevertheless paused to wonder.

''As long as it's not Zylus and his guys, I'm good,'' Ky said.

''Same here,'' Maya agreed.

A short while later they spotted the village, several groupings of small houses, all clustered tightly together beside a river. It was not as old as the three friends would have guessed an abandoned village to be, but neither was it brand new. There were tractors and other farming machinery present, but as Maya had said before, the village was completely deserted.

There were mountains close by to the north, and the three saw that several large boulders lay scattered throughout the village itself, most in the street, but one had smashed right through the roof of a house. That was the most likely reason for why the place was abandoned.

Boomer lighted the craft in the village square, and the three kairu-hunters walked out into the sunlight. Unlike in the underground city, they found the source of the kairu-signal almost right away, their x-readers all pointing toward a broad and squat building not too far from the village-square. The building was in bad disrepair, but at least its overall look was familiar, and the three were having a hard time imagining any monsters hiding within its walls.

''It's a museum,'' Maya said, as she looked intently at a sign above the front door that was emblazoned with Chinese characters, some of which had mostly faded, but enough of it remained for the young woman to be able to make some sense of them. ''And a museum dedicated to history no less.''

Maya opened the door and entered the lobby, which was complete with a reception table and a cash register, both of which were vintage and in mint condition. Cobwebs were here and there, and a thick layer of dust covered the place. ''That way,'' Maya said, pointing at a door which led into the main part of the museum.

Ky opened the door a crack and peeked inside, and his jaw went slack at the sight that greeted him. There stood row after row of stone statues, each fashioned into the likeness of a Chinese warrior, armed and armored, and covered in dust and cobwebs. And they they all glowed a soft bluish-white light.

''All the statues are infused with kairu energy,'' Boomer remarked as he walked into the room, taking up his x-reader and pointing it at the statues.

''Well, isn't that grand,'' came a nasal remark from behind, and the trio whirled about to see Team Battacor enter the lobby, Zylus at their head. ''But you'll not be the ones collecting the kairu, I fear.'' To the surprise of the three members of Team Stax, the Radikor walked into the room behind the Battacor, Zane looking thoroughly pissed off, and they were followed by Team Imperiaz. ''That task will fall to myself and my associates here.''

''Guys,'' Maya said to her friends. ''I think we might be in trouble.''

''You sure are, dove,'' Zylus remarked, then he turned to Team Radikor. ''Take them,'' he ordered, pointing at Team Stax. Zane, his face contorted and bright red with rage, did not immediately follow the command, but then Zylus moved up to him, looking the Radikor leader straight in the eye. ''Lokar said I and my two friends were in command. '' Zane withered slightly under that gray-eyed stare. ''So I repeat: take them!'' Zane reluctantly moved to comply, putting his hands together before him and dipping the customary bow for a kairu challenge. Ky reciprocated the bow, to the absolute disbelief of his two friends.

''Do you really think it a good idea to go through with this, Ky?'' Boomer asked.

''We're not backing down from this challenge,'' Ky declared, his tone leaving no room for debate. Boomer and Maya looked at each other, then just gave a shrug and dropped into the honorable bow. The clouds above the building began to swirl, and forked lightning streaked the sky, casting long shadows, the wind picking up.

''BRUTICON!'' Zane roared suddenly, and the power of his signature monster surged through him. ''ANTIMATTER BEAM!'' he cupped his hands in close to his side, then thrust them out and a red beam of energy shot out from them. Team Stax leaped out of the way, and the attack whipped by, dangerously close to the statues, blasting a large hole through the wall.

''Watch the statues, you imbecile!'' Zylus roared.

''Yeah yeah,'' Zane growled in reply.

''METANOID!'' Ky exclaimed, energy surging through him, then he put his hands up to his temples. ''HYPNO BLAST!'' he shouted, and a thin beam of light bluish energy shot out from his forehead. Zane tried to evade but was caught by the attack. The e-teen leader fell groaning to the floor.

Boomer and Maya promptly stacked up, as did Zair and Techris.

Maya eyed the statues, then her gaze drifted over to the hole in the wall. ''I'll make us some room to work,'' she said to her friends, then she somersaulted backwards, out though the hole. ''WIND BLAST!'' she shouted in mid air, reaching out and grabbing at the air, then pulling hard as she came out of the somersault. A great gust of wind blew into the backs of the surprised Radikor, blasting them out through the hole to land unceremoniously on the ground in front of the building.

Zair stood up. ''CYONIS!'' she roared, and was enveloped in yellow energy, then she began to grow, until she became ten feet tall. When the yellow energy dissipated, she had transformed completely into her signature monster. ''SMOKE SCREEN!'' she exclaimed, and a cloud of smoke burst from her outstretched hands, enveloping the scene.

Boomer walked through the dark blue haze. ''Ky!'' he coughed. ''Maya! Where are you?''

Suddenly he saw a huge ape-like face staring back at him through the smoke. ''Your friends ain't here, Boomer,'' Techris, now in the guise of Silverbax, bellowed in his deep, resonating voice. ''I'll take the message. THUNDER CLAP!'' The beast clapped its huge hands together, and a line of green energy shot up into the air, then down diagonally, smiting Boomer heavily in the chest and sending him flying backwards.

So powerful was the attack that the smoke around where it had hit cleared away, creating a clear space in the middle of the cloud.

Maya, standing in that clear spot, found herself facing Zair, the cyclopean face staring down at her, the strangely shaped mouth twisting weirdly in a caricature of a smile. ''LIGHTNING STRIKE ATTACK!'' she roared, and a crackling bolt of red lightning shot out from her extended fingers.

''SNIPER SIGHT!'' Maya exclaimed, and a green beam of energy shot out from her hand, colliding with the lightning bolt in mid air, and struggling against it. Zair roared and pushed on, but Maya was the stronger, and the e-teen's attack was pushed back at her, and then it struck, and Zair found herself thrown back into the smoke. Maya could see the silhouette of the cyclopean monster, then there came a flash of yellow light, and the huge shape was replaced by a smaller one.

Ky faced off against Zane, about a dozen feet separating the two warriors. ''So you take orders from Zylus now, is that it?'' Ky asked, and he smiled as Zane narrowed his dark eyes. ''I mean, I can understand why you follow Lokar, but why would you go so low as to follow that idiot.''

''Shut up!'' Zane roared, his dagger-throwing gaze locked on Ky, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. ''BRUTICON!'' he exclaimed suddenly, and in a burst of yellow light he transformed into his signature monster.

''METANOID!'' Ky roared, and he too turned into his mechanical monster.

''DEGENERATION!'' Zane bellowed, and a roaring beam of red energy shot out from his hands.

''PLASMA SWORD!'' Ky said, and a red sword appeared in his hand, and he held the weapon up defensively before him. The red beam hit the sword and forked on the edge, the prongs going to either side of the young Stax. Zane roared and fought on, putting every ounce of his skill and considerable rage behind the red beam.

''PLASMA EYES!'' Ky roared, and his mechanical eyes began to glow with red energy, and then twin beams shot out from them, merging before his face and shooting on towards the e-teen. Zane stopped his attack and rolled to the side, coming out of the roll with a green razor-edged disc in his hand.

''ANTIMATTER SAW!'' he bellowed and threw, the saw blade spinning through the air, heading unerringly for the young Stax.

Ky brought his sword up in front of him, deflecting the attack to the side, then he lifted the sword up above his head and threw. Spinning tip over pommel the weapon soared through the air, and Zane was forced to drop flat on his belly to avoid being skewered. The sword struck the wall of the museum and stuck there, before dissipating into vapors.

Zane put his feet under him and leaped into the air, holding his hands out in front of him. ''ACID BEAM!'' he roared, and a line of red liquid burst from his palms, drawing a semicircle on the ground in front of Ky. Then the acid detonated, hurling the young Stax backward to land in a heap on the ground, where he reverted back to his human form.

Zane laughed mockingly.

Ky scrambled to his feet and leaped away as Boomer, now in the guise of Froztok, was hurled out of the smoke, landing where the young Stax had been lying just an instant before. Techris lumbered out of the smoke, watching with satisfaction as Boomer reverted back to his human form, a massive bruise adorning his face.

Maya came running to where her friends were, falling into a defensive crouch before them, legs wide apart and balanced, her hands waving in circles and crossing defensively in front of her. ''Don't worry, guys,'' she said, though her voice lacked conviction. ''I got this covered. HARRIER!'' In a flash of green light she transformed into her half avian, half humanoid monster.

Zane was about to throw an attack, when a beam of gray energy shot past him, striking Maya and sending her twirling weirdly through the air to crash heavily into the side of a nearby building. She slumped down to a sitting position at the base of the wall, where she changed back to her human form. Another gray beam whipped past, this one striking Ky and Boomer, hurling them back to join their female companion in unconsciousness at the base of the wall.

The battle was over.

Zane whirled about to face Zylus, who stood in front of the hole in the wall, one hand extended, a smug smile on his face. ''Who do you think you are, interfering with my battle like that!'' the Radikor leader roared, throwing up his hands in complete outrage. ''Who do you think you are!'' the e-teen leader roared again.

Zylus laughed mockingly, and that pushed Zane over the ledge, and he launched for the Battacor leader, thinking to choke the life from the pompous creature. But Bash was there in an instant, meeting him with a thunderous left hook that sent Zane sprawling to the ground, his bleeding nose flattened up against his cheek. Rynoh moved in then, kicking the Radikor e-teen hard in the ribs.

''Damn you,'' Zane growled, trying to stand up, but Rynoh kicked him again, this time in the belly.

''I am your intellectual superior,'' Zylus remarked. ''I will do as I please. Now either you get down with the program...'' his voice drifted off as he fired a beam of gray energy at Zane, making him squirm pathetically in the dirt. ''Or I will destroy you, most unpleasantly.'' He relented, then motioned for Rynoh and Bash to get Zane back on his feet. They grabbed the e-teen leader by the elbows, and unceremoniously hoisted him to his feet. ''Now we've got to collect that kairu,'' Zylus went on, motioning for the others to follow.

The e-teens collected the kairu, then flew off to their master's lair.

xxxxx

The three members of Team Stax woke up some time later, all of them feeling thoroughly wretched. Ky had a black eye, swollen to the point where he could not keep it open, and Boomer had a massive bruise on his face, and when he spat on the ground, blood came out, accompanied by a molar knocked loose by Techris' punch. Maya very possibly had a fractured rib, for the pain in her side was very acute, and a line of blood hung low from the corner of her mouth.

They managed to get back to the X-caper, and a short while later the craft sped off toward the monastery.

xxxxx

Lokar was very pleased when his e-teens returned to the lair, all nine of them with x-readers chock full of kairu. ''Excellent,'' the dark master exclaimed, clapping his hands together. ''You have performed most admirably, Battacor.'' Zane very nearly vomited at that remark, and he fixed Zylus and his two cohorts with a hateful glower. ''I have an announcement to make,'' Lokar declared. ''I will be infusing every one of you with gray kairu.''

A dead silence came over the room, and it held for several long moments.

''You're gonna,'' Diara began, then swallowed hard, a look of shock and horror painted indelibly on her doll-like features. ''You're gonna make me a nerd? Like those nerds there?'' She pointed a shaky finger at the Battacor. Lokar nodded, and the princess threw her arm up dramatically before her forehead, then promptly fell unconscious to the floor.

Lokar eyed the Battacor. ''Leave us,'' he said to his other two e-teen teams, who gave a respectful bow before leaving, Koz and Teeny dragging the unconscious princess out of the room. ''I have a task for you,'' the dark master said to the Battacor when everyone else had vacated the room. ''A task that ought to be well suited to men of your particular talents.''

Lokar lifted a hand which began to emanate a reddish-purple glow, and a piece of the wall slid aside, revealing a hidden door. He led the Battacor into the adjoining room, which turned out to be a lab, with many tables, laden with lab equipment and various metallic parts and hoses. Scattered across one table was a myriad of papers, with pictures of parts and calculations scribbled all over them. ''I want the three of you to work on this machine,'' Lokar announced, then he walked out of the lab, the door closing behind him, and leaving the Battacor in the lab.

xxxxx

''This sucks,'' Zair muttered under her breath, as Team Radikor made its way along a hallway in the lair. She could see Zane up ahead, stomping heavily along the corridor, and she could well imagine gouts of steam hissing out his ears and nostrils. Neither she nor Techris were excited at the prospect of being subjected to the gray kairu, and Zane was more against it than the two of them put together.

''We have to change Lokar's mind,'' Zane growled in a nasal voice, a testament to his flattened nose.

''How?'' Techris asked.

''I have an idea,'' Zane said ruefully. ''But you're not gonna like it.''

''Then count us in,'' said Diara, as she walked around a corner, clearly recovered from her little incident, her siblings following her. Zane cocked an eyebrow, and the princess crossed her arms under her breasts and sniffed, looking to the side and pouting. ''If he thinks he can turn be into a nerd, then he has another thing coming.''

''Alright,'' Zane said. ''This is what we'll do.''

**To be continued...**


	7. Chapter 7: A truth revealed

** Chapter 7**

Maya lay on her bed, one arm flung across her eyes, the young woman feeling thoroughly wretched and sore from her fight against the e-teens. Her side still hurt, but it had been treated with bandages soaked in a potent healing salve master Boddai had guaranteed would help mend her rib, which had been fractured in the battle. Her bruises had also been treated with the salve, and after two days they had healed completely. She shifted to her side, taking care not to apply pressure on her injured side.

A great dizziness washed over the young woman all of a sudden, and images flashed through her mind. She could not make any sense of most of the images, for they formed and dissolved at furious speed, but there were a few she could make sense of. She saw people with bent backs toiling away in a vast cavern, working the stone with crude tools. They did not seem to enjoy life very much. She could see one of the workers strike a stone with his pickaxe and a crack appeared in the stone, and through it came gray kairu, enveloping the man and all the other people working in the cavern.

She could see a vast underground city, very much like the one she and her friends had discovered a short while back, but this one was not in ruins, far from it, for its polished white stone seemed to shine, despite being deep underground, as though possessed of its own inner glow. The place was not deserted either, for she could see people walking through the streets, going about their business with looks of contentment on their faces. They were all of them wearing colorful robes with voluminous sleeves, and she thought she recognized one man, and indeed, it was the man who had released the gray kairu. These people were the dactyls, Maya reasoned, and she was witnessing the golden age of the race, before their civilization had been destroyed by the little monsters she and her friends had encountered in the ruins of the city.

Then she saw that same man lying sick in bed, his skin pale and drawn and covered with pearls of sweat. Maya realized then that he was not the only sick person, for he lay in a long line of what appeared to be hospital beds, with another one of the people lying on each, looking equally wretched. Then the image disappeared, to be replaced by a hideous face with a pointed chin and a long thin nose, with a fanged mouth dripping saliva, and yellow-green eyes that seemed to be possessed of their own inner glow.

The sudden appearance of the hideous thing shocked Maya from the vision, and she sat bolt upright, panting with pearls of sweat beading on her forehead. What had the vision been trying to tell her? Had some terrible plague found its way to the city beneath Ida, and left its inhabitants vulnerable to the attack of the monsters? Then the truth of the matter, or at least what she now believed to be the truth, hit her, and the blood drained from her face as she pondered the implications. ''So that's what happened,'' she muttered under her breath as she worked to gather herself. ''Or maybe I'm simply letting fancies take me. I won't be sure until I get proof.''

xxxxx

''This is outrageous,'' Boomer roared, his nostrils wide with unbridled fury, a piece of paper crumpled together in one fist. He had just returned from the dentist, who had replaced the molar the Battacor had knocked out, and he was clutching the receipt in his large hand. Any gratitude the stocky man might have felt toward the dentist had melted away in the instant it had taken him to fully register the prize tag put on such an operation. He shoved the piece of paper into Ky's face, who was sitting on a stool in front of his friend, patiently listening to his tirade. ''Look at this and tell me these blood suckers at the dental office don't charge way too much for their services.''

Ky looked at the numbers on the parchment and could not suppress a wince, for indeed the prize was head and shoulders above what should rightly be legal, not to mention humane. Boomer opened his mouth again, as though he meant to continue his rant, but the words died in his mouth before they got out, for Maya ambled into the room, wearing a very shaken expression on her face.

''You okay there, Maya,'' Ky asked. ''You seem troubled.''

''Indeed I am,'' she conceded. ''And for good reason too, or at least I believe it to be a good reason. I may have discovered what became of the dactyls, and where the monsters we encountered came from. I think that gray kairu...'' The words trailed off as master Boddai appeared off to the side of the trio, the white plastered wall behind him visible through his astrally projected form.

''What's shaking, master?'' Ky said.

''Nothing is shaking, Ky,'' the old man said in a perplexed tone, raising an astrally projected eyebrow at the young man. He smoothed his features then, assuming a posture that declared there was serious business to be discussed. ''I have sensed a kairu deposit, somewhere nearby'' he said. ''You are to depart at once to retrieve the energy.''

''We're on it, master B,'' Ky said. ''What were you saying, Maya?''

''It's nothing,'' the young woman said. ''It can wait. And besides, I have no proof other than what my vision showed me, and that wasn't much. Now let us begone. We've got kairu to collect, and I have little desire to meet Zylus and the Battacor again until my side is fully healed. '' That said the three rushed off, and the X-caper sped into the air within a few minutes.

xxxxx

Finding the relic proved an easy task, for it lay atop a grass covered hill, and its blue-white glow could be seen from a long distance. The object was nothing spectacular in itself, only a rock jutting through the turf, but the glow of the kairu made it appear much more amazing than it actually was. Team Stax gathered around the relic and collected the energy inside, before holstering the devices, and looking all about.

''Well, that was easy,'' Boomer remarked.

''The kairu in hand and no e-teens to spoil the fun,'' Ky said.

''Consider your fun spoiled,'' said a nasal voice.

The three friends gave a start, then turned to regard Zane as he swaggered up the incline to join them beside the relic. The hill was surrounded by tall grass, and while the relic was easily visible from a distance, someone in the grass would be very difficult to spot. Ky barely managed to stifle a snicker as he saw the nose of the e-teen leader, broken as it was, flattened against his face. Zair and Techris walked up to flank their leader, and to the dismay and surprise of Team Stax, the Imperiaz ambled over as well. Ky looked all about, sky blue eyes searching.

''The Battacor are not here,'' Zane said.

''You're too late,'' Maya said. ''We have already collected the kairu. There's nothing for you here, unless you're looking to battle.''

''The kairu isn't why we came,'' Zane said. ''We lured you here with the kairu that we might offer you a proposal.''

''And why should we listen to your proposal?'' Boomer asked.

''Because the gain will be mutual,'' the Radikor leader said. ''Lokar has decided to expose the rest of us to gray kairu, after witnessing what it did to the Battacor. We do not like that prospect very much, and would like to prevent it from happening. That means trashing the Battacor, and we were wondering if...'' The words were choked off as his pride, which forbade him from seeking aid from his hated enemies, warred with his pragmatism, which declared the Battacor would have to be put down, if he were to achieve the destiny he so very much desired.

Zane barked a curse, and strode down the incline.

''What my brother's trying to say,'' Zair sighed. ''Is that we're wondering if you could maybe help us defeat the Battacor.''

''That doesn't mean we are friends,'' Zane roared as he strode over, then he kicked the stone sticking from the turf, bellowing another curse as he stubbed his toe, then hobbled down the incline once more, disappearing into the grass.

''Why wouldn't you want to get exposed to the gray kairu?'' Ky asked. ''I mean, it's done wonders for the Battacor.''

''Kidnapping our parents is bad enough, but turning me into a nerd...'' the princess whined, shaking her head disgustedly, and the move was accentuated by the swing of her elaborately curled golden tresses. ''If Lokar thinks nerdy is the new black this season, then he has gotten senile.''

Team Stax went off to the side a short way, going into a group huddle.

''Well I'm convinced,'' Boomer said.

''Fighting the Battacor imbued with gray kairu would be difficult enough,'' Maya said. ''But fighting all nine of them that way would be madness. I'm ready to take the chance of this being a trap, if it means we may be able to put an end to this gray kairu business. What do you think, Ky?''

''I think we should go for it,'' the young Stax said. ''This may be the only chance we get to defeat the Battacor. They were very strong before they found the gray kairu, but then they lacked the brains to properly utilize that strength to its fullest potential. And now that they've gotten smarter, there's no way we'll be able to compeat with them for the kairu.''

''So it's decided,'' Maya said. ''We'll work with the e-teens.''

They broke off from the huddle and walked over to where the aliens were waiting for their response.

''Well...'' Zane asked impatiently. ''Do you accept or not?''

''We accept,'' Ky said.

xxxxx

Zylus looked at the blinking dot on his x-reader and grinned, motioning for his two team mates to join him. Rynoh and Bash broke off from their work, putting together the machine Lokar had been working on, and walked up beside their leader.

''It would appear another kairu deposit has surfaced,'' the e-teen leader said. ''At the same mountain where we came upon the gray kairu.''

''More of the gray substance, perhaps?'' Rynoh asked.

''There is only one way to find out,'' Zylus said. ''We are going to Ida.''

''I really do hope Team Stax will grace us with their presence,'' Bash said, punching his over sized fist into his over sized palm, grinning wickedly as he spoke the words. ''I would so enjoy springing our new surprise on them.''

Then the e-teens were off.

xxxxx

Ky looked down at the kairu relic he and his team mates had fashioned from a rock they had picked up on their way up the mountain trail that led to the peak of mount Ida, and the kairu energy they had collected from the trap set by the Radikor and Imperiaz e-teens. This relic was naught but a ruse, of course, designed to lure the Battacor to the mountain top, where a force would wait in ambush.

Maya would not be part of that initial first strike, for she had insisted she would go down into the underground city to fetch evidence of some sort or other. Ky did not know what good evidence would do in this scenario, but he trusted his friend, and had thus not questioned her further.

He peered at the horizon, where three dots where just beginning to form, and he knew without doubt that it were the Battacor. He broke off from the approach of their quarry, and rushed into hiding behind a rocky outcropping of stone. Boomer was also in place behind the outcropping of stone, as were the Radikor and Imperiaz.

The dots on the horizon grew larger.

xxxxx

Maya snuck up to the wall of a white stone house, then peeked around the corner to see the two wiry shapes walking along the paved street, at a scrambling, low to the ground gait. The creatures went along their way, their guttural voices receding into the darkness, as did their silhouettes.

Maya rounded the corner and sprinted across the street, dashing through the door frame of the library where she and her companions had first encountered the new and improved Battacor. She was looking for proof that her theory concerning the relationship between the deposed dactyls and these little monsters was correct, and her answers would surely be found in there.

No sooner had she entered the lobby of the building when she ran smack into one of the little creatures, its eyes wide with surprise at finding a human down here. It opened its fanged mouth as if to call out to its kin, but Maya jabbed her hand into its throat, though she made sure the punch was pulled, for she did not wish to kill the creature. It did stun it, though, and kept it silent long enough for the young woman to charge at in and lay it low with a knee to the face. Maya dragged the creature away, stuffing the unconscious thing into a side room, where she left it.

Then she was off again, searching for her proof.

xxxxx

Ky watched from concealement as the Battacor swooped down to land lightly in front of the makeshift kairu relic. Zylus glanced around with his light gray eyes, and the young man ducked even lower behind the outcropping, disappearing completely from view. He peeked over a short while later, to see Rynoh and Bash draw forth their x-readers, and point them at the relic, but Zylus stopped them with an upraised hand.

The Battacor leader stabbed his hand out to the side, suddenly, and a beam of gray energy blasted apart the rocky outcropping, hurling Ky and the others back, and sending a cloud of dust into the air. Zylus turned to regard them, a cocky grin widening across his face. ''Why am I not surprised to find you here, consorting with the enemy, Zane?''

The green skinned warrior climbed back to his feet and squared his shoulders defiantly against his enemy, black eyes burning with hate. ''If you think you can just subject yourselves to gray kairu and take my place at the top, then you better get ready for a serious Radikor take down.'' Zane brought his hands up together before him, dipping a bow that contained not an ounce of respect in it. ''We challenge you to a kairu battle.''

''The three of us against the eight of you,'' Zylus remarked, tapping a thick finger against his chin, apparently deep in thought. ''Or nine, if Maya decides to show up. I am afraid that even in that event, these odds can hardly be accounted fair for the lot of you.'' A wry grin spread across his face, and he brought his hands together before him, reciprocating the bow, as did his cohorts. ''But then again, if we destroy you, then we will be uncontested in our hunt for kairu. Challenge accepted.''

Lightning streaked the sky overhead, and the wind picked up, whipping the clouds into a spinning motion, and all was bathed in a bluish glow. Ky drew forth his x-reader and called upon the power of Metanoid, before falling into a defensive crouch. Boomer and their Radikor and Imperiaz allies also stacked up, each calling upon the power of their respective signature monsters.

''TRAP SHADOW!'' Rynoh exclaimed, holding his x-reader out before him, and his entire body was promptly enveloped in buzzing purple energy. His silhouette began to change shape then, growing taller and more sinewy, and as suddenly as it had enveloped him, the energy dissipated. He was now a strange hybrid between a dog and a cat, a strange blend of canine and feline traits. His sleek muscles strained tightly against a shining coat of bluish-black fur, and his yellow-green eyes were slitted. A pair of sabre like teeth jutted down over his lower jaw, and his dagger like claws appeared sharp enough to rend stone.

''INFOR KNIGHT!'' Bash exclaimed, and purple energy emanated from his x-reader, going up his arm, and enveloping the whole of his body. When the energy dissipated an instant later, he was over twelve feet tall, and resembled a heavy suit of black and bronze plate mail, with sulfurous smoke wafting from the joints, and veritably pouring between the bars of his face guard.

''Zapps!'' Zylus roared, and he began to change shape, growing until he stood at about nine feet tall, with a slender and lithe build. His thin limbs were long and ended in extremities tipped with scythe like talons, and a sinuous tail snaked from his backside. He was covered from head to toe by bluish white scales, and its light bluish eyes were slitted, staring out of a lizard-like face. White smoke wafted from his nostrils, and every now and then, a jolt of blue lightning shot out from the beast.

''Looks like the Battacor got themselves an upgrade,'' Boomer remarked.

''Indeed,'' Zylus said, his voice a grating buzz. ''We ourselves created these monsters, using equipment Lokar was kind enough to lend us. Working on one of his projects in his laboratory provided us with ample time to crack the secrets of the x-drives, and fabricate our very own. I am afraid you will find these monsters formidable beyond anything you might ever have thought possible, so a surrender on your part would be in order.''

''Never,'' Zane retorted, and then he and his allies charged the Battacor.

xxxxx

Maya stared down at the pair of unconscious monsters lying at her feet, creatures she had just overwhelmed. She was standing in the chamber where she had first met the Battacor after they had been imbued with gray kairu. In the center of the room was a gaping hole, where Zylus had blasted the floor out from under them.

Many bookshelves had fallen down through that hole, but a few still remained in the room, and laden with scrolls and scroll tubes. She approached one such shelf and pulled a scroll from it, then propped herself down against a wall and turned on her flashlight. The text was in an ancient dialect of Greece, but she, with her knowledge of languages, was able to make some sense of what was written there. The scroll contained nothing of use, and so she replaced it in the shelf and fetched another and started to read. That one too was useless, as was the next after that, and the next after that.

As it turned out, she found nothing of any value, and discouraged, she left the room, plodding along a corridor with sagging shoulders. But then a dizzy sensation washed over her, and she fell down on all fours as images flashed through her mind. The images sparked hope in the young woman, and she followed their direction to a small side room, where she found a skeleton hanging from a noose affixed to the ceiling, and wearing the same kind of robes as the dactyls from her earlier vision. But this skeleton was obviously not human, for the skull was more angular, with a chin that protruded many inches from the face, and with teeth that were more pointed than those of a human, though they had still not turned completely into fangs. Beside the skeleton there lay a scroll tube, which she promptly retrieved and started to read the scroll inside.

_I have barricaded myself in here, but know that it will do me little good. The others have already fallen victim to the sickness, caused by what we had originally thought to be the instrument of our salvation, but now realize to have been that of our destruction. I can hear them prowling outside my door, speaking in guttural voices, and I know I will soon become one of them, for I carry the sickness within my bones. This gray energy we found may have granted us the insight necessary to build our civilization, but it has a terrible price. I am changing, and not only in body, for while my skin has turned the color of chalk, and my chin and nose have grown long and pointed, I can also feel my mind disintegrating. I can feel the bestial croaks and cries gathering in my throat, and have to force myself to think as a rational human being. Writing this is therefore very difficult. There is rope in this small chamber that will become my tomb, and I will use it to put an end to my wretched existence, for better death than life as such an abomination. I pray that no one else will come upon this wretched energy, for while it may at first seem a blessing, it will eventually turn into a curse, as twisted an irony as there has ever been. This journal entry will be my last, for as of this day I shall be no more._

Maya rolled the scroll up with trembling hands, then replaced it in its tube and tied it securely to her belt. She started for the door, but then glanced back at the skeleton, and she undid the knot and lowered the corpse to the floor, where it could lie with some dignity. She tapped the scroll at her side, then snuck out of the room with all haste. She would have to get back to the surface and tell the others about her discovery.

xxxxx

Boomer fell heavily to the ground, a dozen new bruises flaring angrily across his body, and he could feel the molar he had just had replaced come loose. He mouthed a curse, as silver slivers and gruesome images of expensive dental bills dashed across his vision. He propped himself up on one elbow and shook his head, forcing his vision to clear up.

Boomer glanced around to see Techris lying some distance away, and Zair that distance again, seeming senseless. Koz sat propped against a rocky outcropping, clutching his broken leg, and Teeny and Diara lay unconscious not far away. He stubbornly climbed back to his feet, and glanced at the towering shape of Metanoid, who was facing the Battacor straight up, and Bruticon was right there beside him. Boomer could still barely believe just how powerful the Battacor had become.

''FROZTOK!'' he roared, and was enveloped by green energy, and when it dissipated, he was a towering man shape of blue-white ice. ''FREEZE RAY!'' he exclaimed, extending his arms out toward Zylus, and a beam of blue energy shot from his hands. Bash leaped into the path of the attack, arms held gloriously out wide in challenge. The beam hit him in the chest, enveloping him in ice and freezing him solid.

But then Bash began to glow bright orange, fires leaping through the joints of his armor and between the bars of his face guard. The ice hissed and melted away, a cloud of steam rising into the air to be whipped away by the wind. ''Fire beats ice, Boomer,'' Bash said in a metallic voice, then the fires behind his helmet burned brighter. ''HEAT BLAST!'' he roared, and a beam of red energy shot from his visor, hurling Boomer backwards.

Ky faced off against Rynoh, the two circling slowly, mechanical eyes staring into slitted, yellow-green eyes. ''INVISIBILITY!'' Rynoh exclaimed, and he melted into his surroundings, disappearing completely from sight. Ky fell into a defensive posture, glancing all around, but then he felt a rush of air above him. Rynoh dropped on top of him, sabre-like teeth burying themselves in his shoulder. Ky retained the presence of mind to throw himself sidelong into a rocky outcropping, sandwiching into the beast and holding it against the hard stone.

Rynoh twisted and squirmed free his forelegs, then raked his claws across the chest of his opponent, scoring deep grooves in the metal. Ky screamed and fell back, then swung a fist at the beast, even as it pounced for him. His punch connected solidly on its chest, but even as it was knocked away it hooked its claws into his forearm, just below the elbow, raking deep lines as it fell away. Ky grabbed at his forearm, then looked around to see Zane getting pummeled by Zylus. He was about to help the green skinned e-teen, but Rynoh crashed into him then, bearing him to the ground.

''You really ought to have gotten down with the program, Zane'' Zylus said, then smashed his fist into his opponent's belly, creasing the metal there, and sending a jolt of electricity into him. ''Then you would at least have been able to live your life.'' He pivoted, his tail taking his opponent squarely across the chest, and throwing him down. ''But now I am afraid I am going to have to kill you.'' Zylus smiled wickedly, right before he kicked Zane hard in the side, sending another jolt of electricity through him. Zylus reached down then, and lifted Zane up by the neck, then raising his other hand, clawed fingers rigid. ''I bid you farewell.''

''Stop!'' cried a voice then, and Zylus turned to regard Maya, who stood at the top of the mountain trail. ''I have news concerning the gray kairu that you must hear, for your own good,'' she said. ''I know what became of the dactyls, who ruled the city beneath this mountain. They found the gray kairu, which made them very intelligent and enabled them to build their great civilization, but the energy has a darker side as well. Their minds were later destroyed by the substance, and they were turned into the same monsters that now haunt the city. You will turn into monsters as well, unless we drain you off the gray kairu.''

Zylus barked a laugh. ''You are desperate, my dear,'' he said. ''Do you really expect us to fall for such an obvious ruse? The gray kairu made us superior to regular warriors, it made us dominant. And those beasts in the underground city are nothing more than simple freaks of nature, or perhaps aliens, who invaded the city and drove the dactyls away. They were not created by the gray kairu.''

''I found a skeleton of a man who hanged himself in the city,'' Maya said. ''He was caught somewhere between being a human and a monster, and beside him I found a journal entry, written by him, where he explains that he would rather die than be turned into one of those monsters.'' She took the scroll tube from her belt and threw it over to Zylus, who caught it in a clawed hand.

Zylus dropped Zane to the ground, then opened the tube and pulled out the scroll, deftly unrolling and reading it. As he read, an expression of shock and horror crossed his reptilian features, and as Rynoh and Bash walked over, he showed them the scroll.

''I do not fancy being turned into one of those beasts,'' Bash said in his tinny voice.

''I would rather not,'' said Rynoh, the words distorted by the hisses and snarls of some rabid animal. ''I do dare say.''

''We will find a way to avoid that fate,'' Zylus remarked. ''Right after we rid ourselves of these intellectual degenerates.'' The Battacor leader turned his attention back to Zane, or rather back to the spot where he had dropped him, for he was no longer there. He noticed then that Zane and all the others had gathered in a circle around them, x-readers pointed their way. ''No!'' he roared, leaping for the green skinned e-teen, claws slicing through the air. Then a thin beam of energy shot from the x-reader and hit Zylus squarely in the chest, halting his momentum and keeping him at bay. The beams hit Rynoh and Bash as well, and then the gray kairu was ripped out of them. Zylus reached desperately for the departing energy, but it was promptly absorbed by the x-readers.

For several long moments they all just stood there, Team Stax, the Radikor and the Imperiaz gathered in a circle around the Battacor. Zylus, Rynoh and Bash blinked quizzically at the others, and a stupid look crossed their features. ''What in tarnation just happened,'' Zylus asked his cohorts, who promptly shrugged.

''You are no longer infused with the gray kairu,'' Maya said. ''The wind flows freely between your ears once more.''

Zylus tapped his chin with a clawed finger, obviously having difficulty understanding that last comment. ''We still have our new monsters,'' he said at length, and, after nodding to his comrades, he fell into a fighting crouch. ''We are still strong enough to trash all nine of you!'' He lifted his arms out wide, wisps of white smoke wafting from his nostrils. ''Rynoh!'' he cried out, and the half canine, half feline creature took up a position beside him. ''Bash!'' the walking suit of armor took up a position at his other side, then the three charged like crazed bulls seeing red.

Zane, who was directly in their path, casually bent down and touched the ground, sending his inner kairu into it, then raising it. A wall of solid stone rose from the rocky ground, blocking the path of the charge. Zane grinned evilly as there came a loud thunk, and a crack ran down the center of the wall, which was barely able to withstand the impact with the hard heads of the Battacor. The wall sank back into the ground, melting into the stone as though it had never been, and the Battacor, in their normal forms, became visible, lying sprawled in a heap, heads lolling about on their shoulders.

The others, recognizing that the battle was over, transformed back into their normal forms and gathered around the Battacor.

''So what do we do now?'' Ky asked.

''If we take the gray kairu back to Lokar then he will subject us to it,'' said Zane. ''It would be best if the three of you took it.'' The e-teens took up their x-readers and pointed them at the three members of Team Stax, and the gray energy swirled from them, spinning in graceful pirouettes in the air before finally being absorbed by the gadgets wielded by the three friends. ''Now take it,'' said Zane. ''And hide it where Lokar will never find it. Bury it or drop it in the ocean, I do not care where you put it as long as Lokar does not get his hands on the stuff.''

''What about the Battacor?'' Boomer asked.

''Just get out of here,'' said Zane, then a cruel smile widened across his face. ''And leave the Battacor to us.''

Ky glanced at the Battacor, then nodded to Zane and the other e-teens, before leading his friends down the trail that had taken them to the top of the mountain. They had not gone far when they heard Zylus and his friends cry out, followed by the sounds of punches and kicks, and the laughter of Zane and the Radikor.

xxxxx

Later that very day, the X-caper rocked to and fro as the waves of the Mediterranean Sea pushed against the sides of its sturdy hull. Ky stood with his friends on the deck of the craft, holding a ball of lead, no larger than his clenched fist, which emanated a grayish glow. The young man handed the ball to Boomer, who tucked it in close to the side of his neck, then he pivoted and hurled it out into the ocean with all his strength.

The makeshift relic containing the gray kairu disappeared beneath the waters with a plop, and sank down into the deepest recesses of the world, where it would hopefully never be found again. That done, the three went back inside, and before long the X-caper lifted from the water and shot into the sky, leaving streaks of white in its wake.

**The end**


End file.
